I know it's not the optimal amount of money with which to get a computer to play games on.

My current one is garbge. It can play Oblivion and Fallout 3, but just barely, and after 60 hours of Oblivion it starts crashing.

Keep in mind that I'm in Canada, so any Newegg parts would have to be from Newegg.ca, and they have different stock/pricing sometimes. Does Tig Ol Bitties still post in these parts?

PS. Would it be advisable for me to build it, even though the closest I've done to assembling a PC is popping in memory, graphics card and DVD drive? Is it very hard?

400 weak canadian dollars? Not even 400 us dollar would be enough :/
What is your current pc? Maybe if your cpu is ok you could buy a new video card. And after that if you have more money a new mainboard, cpu + ram

And no its not that hard to build your own pc. There is so many how-to stuff in the internet, just read some of them and you will be fine.+

edit: oh I see that can$ and us$ are almost the same now. Somehow I tought its weaker.

building would be cheaper... look at peoples specs then see if on ebay/amazon you can find the parts cheap....then DIY

Naw, this computer is on its last legs. The CPU is a Pentium 4 3.0ghz. It's not worth upgrading.

I didn't say a beast of a rig... damn. That svcks. What kind of a PC could I build?

I was hoping for some advice on affordable parts, or which parts are considered the best in a certain range.

I could potentially cut it down to $500 - $600 but I don't think I could get by with $400 for a decent rig at least. Hopefully, that will help you down the road.

I usually say when building a PC you want to play game with, go in with atleast $650-$700 US. Just for the tower.

Well, if this helps (I really should have mentioned this) it isn't including a graphics card.

I have $400 to get a computer that I can pop my current card in just to use it for general stuff, then I'm going to save up for a better card. Heck, I could do that with RAM as well for the most part. Does that help my chances?

yeah your gonna want to spend a bit more. get a good MB and power supply. then you can always upgrade the other parts later. i had a good one put together last year, i spent about $550. that had a on board video card, so you would need to upgrade that later.

Yep. Case: ~$70ish, MB: ~$150is-200ish, RAM: ~<$115ish, CPU: ~$120ish

It wouldn't be a powerhouse but would be a decent computer nonetheless

Edit:

Forgot the PSU. You'll be pushing $450-500 then from my quick and dirty numbers

Here's an econo-box build from this month: http://techreport.com/articles.x/22513/2. But it comes in at $630 American.

You could look for sales and try to build something similar, but I think you still need at least $50 more to be in the running. You have any friends that can spare any parts? The only other option is to frequently check ebay and craigslist.

And, yeah, if you've got some patience, you should definitely build the box, or get a friend to do it. You'll save at least $50, and probably end up with better parts.

Fig a good GFX card runs 250.00. Dont think you could do much with 400.00 total budget.

For 850.00 one could build a good computer. I build my grandkids computers from EVGA B-Stock. All of them are still running strong. With no problims.

Last B-Sock build was Q6600 and sli 8800 GTS. Less then 800.00 a cpl years ago. ATM you could do EVGA B-Stock for around 720.00

X58 3SLI 80.00 <--B-stock
i-7 960 290.00
6gig ram 40.00
500 watt PSU & Full tower ATX case 120.00
GTX560Ti 190.00 <--B-Stock
use your old CD/DvD, HD and OS. Upgrade later

Total cost 720.00

No offense to everyone else, but I'm going to at least start by focusing on Kermit's posts. Maybe "decent" is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not looking for $850 decent.
Edit: I just remembered a game I'd like to be able to play - is there a chance of this being able to play the Witcher 2? (I would say Skyrim, but I think the Witcher 2 requires more power, as it was really suped up for PC.)

Anyway, thank you. There might be a chance that I can make an extra bit of money to put in for it.

I'd want DDR3 RAM, am I right? I'd have to check, maybe there's some around here I could use just to get the computer running, then save for some better stuff.
Also, I noticed you didn't include Hard Drive in your calculations...

You may wish to look for used parts and build a generation or two older computer. It would not be up to todays standards but it would be better than what you presently have.

For the novice to amateur, I would use a site like hardware-revolution.com to suggest components in your price range.

Here's a link to their guide for budget gaming systems:
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-budget-gaming-pc-february-2012/

How long is a generation?
Like I said, I'd love to play the Witcher games...


Thanks, I will peruse that.

First off, you NEED a PSU, or the computer you build won't turn on. PSU = Power Supply Unit. That thing which provides electricity to the rest of your hardware. And for that matter, any decent system builder recognizes that the PSU is the foundation of a solid, stable system. An otherwise top-end system with a crappy generic PSU will not only run like a much lesser system, but will likely be a timebomb waiting to explode...

Take it from me, as I am not only a professional computer repair technician by trade, but am also a guy who learned VERY early in his PC building career the difference between a good PSU and a not-so-good PSU.

My very first ever custom build was killed by the generic PSU which came with the case I bought, and when it died, it took hostages: My motherboard, CPU, RAM, and the $450 VGA card (which just happened to be the most powerful card on the market at the time I bought it) followed the PSU out in a blaze of glory. Nearly $1000 of that rig gone.

Each of the two subsequent gaming rigs I have built myself, I have invested hours of research into finding the best brands and models of PSU, and will typically budget more for a solid power supply than for any other component, with the exception of the CPU and graphics card. That investment has paid off, as I can unpack system number two from it's spot in my closet, plug it in, and it will purr, despite being over ten years old now. My current gaming rig, only a year and a half old, sees nearly daily use, runs stable at all times, and can chew through a 12+ hour session of Skyrim on 1920x1080 with everything on ultra, and not even a momentary drop in framerate to blemish that time. You simply DON'T get that sort of performance and stability without the solid electrical control of a reliable power supply...

If I had $400 to spend on a custom build, here is what I would buy:
-$200 power supply
-$200 motherboard
-save over the next year or so for the rest of the parts...

Need to add. Keep an eye out on Newegg for package deals. A couple months before I built my current computer. I bought the Antec 1200 case and Antec 750 watt sli ready PSU for 110.00 total.

At the time the case alone was 130.00.

Been building my own computers since my first ...a Packard bell...486 ...few years ago ..(lets leave it at that)


IF you cant afford to build a decent Rig all at once ..do as suggested above...with a twist...I did this for a long long time...

Buy BIG but slowly...svcks for a while you have parts you look at that you cant use, but gives you incentive to save more money...

Buy an Extreme Case..set it in the corner and every time you look at it you will find ways to save yourself money.

NO chance I could afford the System I am currently using....unless this is what I Did.

HAF X
Maximus Extream-z
I7 2600 OC @ 4.7
16 GB Kingston x
2 EVGA GTX 580 3 GB (SLI)
SSD 120
Corsair 1200 W

Skyrim loves the OC on the 2600 and can fill 6 GB of VRAM into my cards. Parts are parts . Buy slow. you will eventually get a monster RIG.

MY advantage, is that all parts that I replace get handed down to my son. He loves when I update a part...lol
The parts from my Sons computer then go into my server...no waste.
So with the above stated I would spend the 400 dollars on a case and power supply. (that will last you 10 years)

Well, if you already have the gpu it's certainly easier.
Still going to be hard, though.

Look for an AMD Athlon II or Phenom II cpu, if you can still get them cheap, otherwise you are probably looking for someting like an FX-4100 (AMD) or i3 2100 (Intel).
Actually the 2100 has a pretty good gaming performance for a dual core cpu and is probably the better option for gaming than one of the lower AMD cpus.
A different route would be the Llano parts from AMD which also includes an integrated gpu, but since you already have one, it's most likely not necessary.

Then get a cheap mobo, no use in spending too much money on that if you anyway don't want to build a high-end system.
Likewise, you will most probably not need anything stronger than a 450W PSU in that system (but that depends on your gpu, too).
Still, if you get a new PSU, don't go for the cheapest you can find, they are usually very bad quality.

I have to sort of disagree with this method. I say set a budget you want to spend and save up until you hit it. By then the prices should come down some on the parts out currently. That way you aren't spending $500 on a graphics card now, when you cant even use it for another 4 months or so. ($500 GPU is an exaggeration in this case of a budget build)

Also, you can get an AMD Phenom IIx4 960T for around $125 now. I had a friend who did that and unlocked it to a 6 core.

Nice rig in your Sig...did you buy that all in one shot? and Off topic i cant get stable at 5 Ghz ...lol

Thanks, and not all in a single buy. Because some of the parts werent out when I bought it. But the original build I did in a single shot.

March or April of 2009 (dont remember exactly)
Current Case
Most of my hard drives
Sound card
Phenom IIx4 955
Asrock Motherboard
4GB RAM
AMD 4890

December 2009
OCZ Vertex 60GB SSD
Second AMD 4890

December 2010
AMD 6970

June 2011
My SSD dies so I order a 60GB Agility 2

July 2011
Noctua NH-D14
Intel Core i7 2600k
Gigabyte z68 motherboard
16GB DDR3 RAM

January 2012
AMD 7970


And yeah hitting 5Ghz stable was a pain. I was stuck at 4.8Ghz for a while.

see this is what i was saying.....to go BIG you have to take baby steps...lol but as you said you bought the original in one go. then updated parts at a time. All i am saying is don't cheap out on things like case and power supply they will last you a long time.
off topic..
Stuck at 4.6 stable, close enough for me...lol

You might be able to do it for $400 - $500 depending on what exactly you have already that could be reused for a bit.
ie. You say your current system is a P4 -- what are the rest of the Specs - Mainly Case, Mouse, Keyboard, HDD, DVD drive, PSU, - Is the Windows system on it a Retail or OEM license (that alone is around $100 of the cost if you need a new OS) -- Also what monitor do you have and do you plan on changing it ? (what GPU is needed will be influenced by the resolution you plan to play the games at !)

For something that can play Witcher games and Skyrim etc. you don't need top shelf components if you are willing to compromise on the settings a bit until you can save up some more $ and upgrade the system so you can then upgrade the settings in game !)

LEt us know what you currently have and then we can see what is needed immediately and what can wait awhile and still let you play at decent levels until then.